LORE s02e09
August 1st, 1942 = Character Improvements = Prior to this episode, all characters receive a total of 10d of training in the following skills (only +1d to any, and no skill can be improved beyond 3d): * Brawling * Electronics * Endurance * Military Engineering * Explosives * First Aid * Flamethrower * Grenade (Treat as a specialization of Athletics, +1d for throwing Grenades) * Knife-Fighting * Machine Gun * Mortar * Navigation * Pistol * Radio Operation * Rifle * Stealth * Swimming (Treat as a specialization of Athletics, +1d for Swimming tests) * Survival (Jungle) * Tactics (Jungle) * Telephony * Dan - Stealth, Endurance, Radio Operation, Rifle, Survival (Jungle), Machine Gun, Navigation (Maritime Specialization), Tactics (Jungle), Mortar, and First Aid. * Deja Vu - Brawling, Rifle, Stealth, Survival, Endurance, Tactics, Radio Operation, Flame Thrower, Navigation, Military Engineering * Doris - Electronics, Military Engineering, Navigation, Radio Operation, Telephony, Stealth, Explosives, Pistol, Endurance, Brawling * Puddles - Endurance, Navigation, Stealth, Survival (Jungle), Tactics (Jungle), Pistol, Knife-fighting, Radio operation, Telephony, Explosives = Episode Summary = The team travels for a glorious all-expense paid vacation in fabulous Hawaii! I mean, we get tricked into going on a plane for boot camp, in South Carolina. Each team member gains new skills over a few weeks there. We also learn the following about Japanese talents: * That Japanese talents have been manifesting in the fields during combat situations - some individual soldiers manifest talents temporarily, lead a banzai charge and are typically killed in action. Are these normal talent manifestations or some sort of culture-specific ones? * Of the permanent talents seen, most are of the Yamato ideal (so really fast, really strong or really good with combat weapons). The US believes this is due to the absence of comic books and paranormal lore. * Sometimes talents also manifest abilities in line with local religions in the Pacific. If found, they are conscripted by the Japanese. * Talents corresponding to Japanese Shinto or Buddhist practices are called Gaki and tend to wear ceremonial robes or face paint or such identifiers. These are very powerful. * Talents are probably as common as ours, despite US propaganda * The Japanese have also been conscripting from among the native populations, using threats. The team may be able to convince them to turn against the Japanese * Regular soldiers are pretty fanatical in spirit, and tend to kill themselves if capture is likely. * It is particularly hard to cancel out Japanese talents, particularly ones dressed as Japanese gods. They speculate that this is due to the force of having lots of believers backing the talents. * For basic strategy, use talents against mundane weapons and mundane weapons against talents After learning new skills, the team sets off to a post in Alaska, a base on Adak Island. The US is trying to establish a strong base there, to beat back the Japanese who have entrenched themselves in the area (estimates run to 20000 troops). The team arrives, and the base appears to be bombed out and abandoned. But we met the local forces, lead by Captain Garinovsky, who are camping in the forest. They explain the problem: the Japanese keep attacking supply convoys coming from the mainland over a bridge, and have bombed out the base itself. If they can get anti-aircraft guns established, it should be possible to defend against attacks, but they can't get them set up until they get supplies and they can't get supplies until they get them set up. They've been trying for about a month and the supplier on the mainland are now not very interesting in sending more convoys. The team acquires a dog sled team and hooks up Gizmo in front. We head to the bridge and Deja Vu uses his hindsight talent to view events in the past. It appears that a plane dive bombed the convoy on the bridge. Dan, looking over the debris, thinks that the plane had some sort of modified explosives since the damage is even more intense than he'd expect. The team suspects someone is informing the Japanese about when the convoys set out and flies to Elmendorf Field near Anchorage, Alaska. Deja Vu talks with the local commander, explaining the situation. The commander asks if he has clearance, and Deja Vu bluffs. When the commander confirms his clearance, we get a message from Agent Price, now promoted to the Office of the OSS. The team looks over the convoy route but can't find any signs of a visual lookout post or communication line. We think the spy might be communicating via radio Deja Vu contacts the local native tribes, using Gizmo as a translator, asking them to look out for any strange activity or Japanese. They haven't seen any so far but agree to report to the base if they do. We decide to set up a decoy convoy and modify the real one so it can go off-road. Doris modifies trucks to act as snowmobiles. As Dan flies overhead with his jet pack, Puddles and Deja Vu set off in the decoy convoy on the road. Doris sets off in a different direction with her snowmobile convoy, about 2 hours later. As they drive along, Puddles and Deja Vu notices a crane following their truck. They send word to Dan, who flies up to try to catch it, by hand. This results in him crashing the jet pack, which needs substantial repairs. Doris diverts her convoy to pick him up. On the bridge in a snowstorm, Puddles and Deja Vu fail to notice the plane diving at them until it is almost too late. Deja Vu time-rewinds, giving Puddles enough time to water surf the two away. They got very far, but can still feel the heat of the explosion in the distance. Watching it from a distance, they are certain a talent was triggered, probably a teleportation talent. With the decoy destroyed, the team regroups. The actual convoy gets through and delivers the first set of anti-aircraft guns, which are set up defending the bridge. Another convoy comes through. Dan and three members of Easy Company fire upon the attacking Japanese plane, and make it crash. The second convoy arrives safely. On Doris's suggestion, Puddles sets up igloos to act as decoy guns, hoping to fool the Japanese into the belief that the airfield is well-armed. The third convoy comes through, defended by Easy Company. They report the return of the suspicious crane. Doris creates 3 net/harpoon guns, and the team heads off in Dan's plane to try to capture it. But the first attempt is unsuccessful and the bird flies away. Pursuing it, Doris hits it with her hypnoray. It lands and is captured. More convoys come through, completing the air defenses of the airfield. As we are accepting the thanks of the captain, we hear the air-raid siren go off. We don't hear fighter planes, but the military personnel have manned the AA guns anyhow. Dan and Deja Vu set off to see what is going on, and are within the blast radius of a bomb. They get to an AA gun, and find a ninja, who they defeat. The team moves from AA gun to AA gun, finding ninjas or trapped guns on the way. They disarm the traps, defeat the ninjas and man the guns with Easy Company. Japanese planes attack and are driven off. The USAF can now send in planes and start bombing the Japanese-defended islands. = Quotes = * The Hypnoray: hypnotoad on a stick! = Endgame Bonuses = * 4 XP (+1 for Puddles as MVP) = Related Documents = = Next Week = * Tune in next time when Dan is defeated by his terrifying and deadly nemesis, a crane. Again.